A photo taken on March 7, 2012, in Wolfsburg, central Germany shows a Volkswagen employee picking up a logo to be fitted on the VW Tiguan and Touran models. / Odd Andersen/AFP/Getty Images

Detroit Free Press Business Writer

Within a year, Volkswagen workers in Tennessee could be represented by both the UAW and a German-style works council, with negotiations for a first collective-bargaining agreement under way, said UAW President Bob King.

“A majority of VW workers at the Chattanooga plant have signed cards saying they want UAW representation,” King said in a phone interview from Germany. He would not give the exact percentage, but said it exceeds the 50% plus one needed under U.S. labor law to show workers favor representation. He said more cards are coming in every day.

In addition to the regular card, supportive workers signed a statement that they are interested in joining VW’s Global Works Council to manage day-to-day personnel issues.

“We would negotiate a contract that sets up a works council system” that would include hourly and salaried workers, King said. Workers would eventually vote on a contract.

In Europe, workers at VW and other German companies have unions like the giant IG Metall that bargain over wages, benefits and other economic issues, while the Works Council sets production standards, overtime, vacation schedules and considers other daily matters.The council cannot, under U.S. law, deal with financial issues.

King said the union and company now are discussing the best way to establish representation. Heis unsure whether the company will voluntarily recognize the union or if a certification vote will be necessary, but he said forcing a vote would be more divisive. After that, a third party would verify the results.

King said he is not setting a timetable. “We’ve been patient and taken our time with this process,” he said, so workers don’t feel pressured.

Getting a foot in the door at a foreign automaker in the South would be a coup for the UAW. Southern states have aggressively promoted right-to-work laws as a shield to discourage the UAW or other unions from gaining a foothold at manufacturing plants in the region.

But competition and the financial crisis have greatly reduced the pay and benefit gap between unionized and nonunion auto plants. Unions also helped the Detroit Three by accepting a lower wage for new workers and adopting more flexible work rules.

“Bob King desperately wants to organize one of these plants and decided Volkswagen is the best shot,” said Art Schwartz, president of Labor and Economics Associates and former General Motors lead labor negotiator.

King said adding a works council, in addition to the benefits a union provides, helps improve quality, productivity, health and safety, reduce waste and run the plant profitably.

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R.-Tenn., has told media he hopes VW pulls out of any talks with the UAW after learning about a letter that the automaker sent to employees that supported creation of a works council.

“The Volkswagen Group respects the employees’ right for an employee representation on plant level at all locations worldwide,” the letter from the plant managers said. “This certainly also applies to the Chattanooga plant.”

“We’ve talked to management, and to me it’s beyond belief that they’ve allowed this to go that far and displayed this kind of naivety that the UAW is somehow different than they were years ago,” Corker said.

Tennessee Right to Work supporters have a lot of money and Corker has a lot of pull, Schwartz said.

Pressure works both ways. In Germany, IG Metall labor representatives sit on the VW supervisory board and have applied pressure for the company to work with their UAW colleagues in the U.S.

The UAW is looking to get a foot in the door any way it can and will have to sort out internally how the Works Council and UAW work together, said Gary Chaison, professor of Industrial Relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.

Contact Alisa Priddle: 313-222-5394 or apriddle@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @AlisaPriddle. The Associated Press contributed to this report.